baby Tag

Tomorrow will be the first time in almost 10 weeks that I'll be without Everly! For the last 10 weeks I haven't spent more than an hour or two away from her. Tomorrow I'll be spending 8 whole hours away from her, I am not sure how I feel about this.
She'll be hanging out at home with N while I go to an all day marching band rehearsal.
N wasn't jazzed about spending the day hanging around the school taking care of E (so I could breastfeed her on demand) while I am working. I don't blame him, if I were him would rather spend my Saturday at home relaxing.
Besides It's better that she's not out in the heat and blazing sun for that long anyway...

Everly had her first doctors appointment this week, her 2 month checkup. We saw an integrated medicine physician who seems to be right up our alley in her care philosophy. She's not pushy about vaccinations and didn't freak out when we mentioned E was a homebirth baby.
Integrated medicine is a mix between alternative medicine and traditional medicine. When there is a health issue things like nutrition, life style and various alternative therapies are often explored first before prescription medications or other more dramatic solutions are used.
We prefer to take the natural route with our health care when possible, I am sure this is no surprise to you considering how Everly was born.
Anyway, back to the updates. Everly weighed in at a whopping 11.8 lbs and had a great checkup with...

Our darling Everly was born 8 weeks ago and is now a two month old. Can you believe it? I know I sure can't!
She came in to the world totally new to everything and has come so far in these past 8 weeks. When she was born all she was doing was sleeping and looking around.
At 2 weeks old she had her first bath when her umbilical stump fell off. She's been to the State Fair and even back to her birth place for a followup appointment with the midwife who delivered her.
She's learned our scents and has really bonded with us and adjusted to our home (pets and all). She learned breastfeeding and has grown so darn much.
She now smiles and imitates some of the faces we make a...

Over the weekend we made the 4 hour drive down to Summertown, Tennessee for our 6 week checkup at The Farm. We got to stay in our midwife's cabin again, the same one Everly was born in. I had her right there on the floor where the rocking chair is in this photo. Ah, the memories.
We had some playtime upon arriving at the cabin. We figured letting Everly stretch out on the bed would be a nice change from being cramped in the carseat all day. E had fun playing as you can see in the above photos.
We learned that an increase in humidity impacts a baby's bottom. Poor Everly got kind of rashy while we were in Tennessee so we put a potty pad (left over from the birth...

We read that tired babies are fussy and can often seem gassy or colicky when all they actually need is to sleep more. We've learned this the hard way.
We bought Gripe Water, Mylicon gas drops, we made catnip & lemon balm tea for her, gave her digestive enzymes and basically tried everything to cure what seemed like tummy pain that caused her to fuss and cry inconsolably.
Turns out she was awake way more than she probably should be and she was getting so overstimulated and overtired that getting her to relax for sleep was practically impossible by the end of the night.
When we headed home with her everyone was all "babies will tell you what they need when they need it". I nursed on demand, let her sleep when she...

I've been a slacker on the Wednesday photo posts! The last time I posted one was back when I was knocked up. It was the Less-words Wednesday: Pregnancy Home Stretch Edition.
Now that I am taking over 100 photos of E a week Ive got lots of material to share. Here we go!
She slept in her crib for the first time ever over the weekend. It was just a tiny nap in the crib on her tummy while N and I worked on stuff in the office but it was a milestone since she isn't to crazy about independent sleep.
It turns out we picked the perfect bedding set because she is crazy about animal print for some reason. There is zebra print on her playmat that she loves to look at....

Today I saw a news report about a woman who was homebirthing here in Indiana whose baby didn't make it. The story portrayed all homebirths as unsafe and crazy. It even incorrectly referred to the birth as unassisted (midwives were present) and did nothing but scare people. While the story did have a tragic outcome it's not a accurate representative of most homebirths and that is why they story upsets me.
Homebirth is not for every woman and every pregnancy which is why there needs to be adequate laws and regulations in place to protect women and midwives (like there are in Tennessee). Homebirth should be an acceptable and viable option for most but thanks to one sided stories, scare tactics and profit driven laws it is not. This is sad...

Everly is screaming and has been doing so, consistently, since yesterday. I am just sitting down to try writing a blog post and I can't for the life of me remember what it was I was going to write about now, figures!
E shot more poop around this morning while I was changing her. Every time she does it I just can't help but laugh. Now I am washing a blanket from the bed and scrubbing some orange poo spots on the carpet when I get a few free moments.
*drinks some cold grape powerade*
Ah, yes! The powerade. So I lived in hot, miserable, Phoenix, AZ for 22 years of my life. 100+ degree temperatures were the norm and I wasn't the best at staying hydrated. I was like a camel, didn't...

It's only taken me 25 days but I believe I am almost back to my normal self again. Dang, those postpartum hormones are killer! Add them to the 4th degree tear and to the normal new parent postpartum stress and healing and you've got yourself one bloody, stitched up, stress filled emotional mess of a person.
It was a rough three weeks getting used to our new roles, especially for me and my crazy after birth hormones. I am feeling good now (hormonally speaking), the postpartum bleeding has just about stopped and my stitches (from what I can see) are practically healed up.
As you can see from the photo, I am getting good at holding Everly in one hand while doing the internet thing with the other. I am still...

I know this is just one of the many dilemmas I'll have to face as a parent. This one is significant because it's the first one, you know a milestone. So humor me okay?
Babies vomit. Mine in particular loves to be at the breast 24/7 which inevitably leads to overeating, which in turn results in an overly full stomach and projectile vomiting. Awesome!
She's shot vomit everywhere exactly 3 times. Once from her swing on to the floor. Once while cuddling me in bed, it went right down my shirt, arm and all over my side of the bed. Then this morning we were both back asleep after a long early morning feeding when she began to quietly fuss...

This weekend has been somewhat enjoyable. Having N home to take some of the pressure off me is nice. Everly seems to be doing better this weekend with her fussiness too.
We've been doing much experimenting with my diet and other causes of her fussiness and gas. The first thing I did was take dairy out of my diet since I know many other moms (like Veronica) have shared their own issues with breastfeeding and dairy.
Everly's gas and fussing didn't improve when I went without dairy for several days. Now I am going without chocolate to see if that is the culprit. Much reading has indicated that chocolate is a problem for many breastfeeding mothers. We are also going to try removing coffee/ caffeine from the diet after we finish testing...

Everly was born 2 weeks ago, it seems like it was just yesterday though. Probably because we've not slept the whole time huh? LOL.
We are learning about this whole parenting thing and we are so in love with little Everly. Unfortunately, we've got a fussy uncomfortable baby that we can't seem to calm. Everyone is saying it is colic and everyone has an opinion about her ailment that doesn't seem to help us in treating it.
I just hate calling it colic because the name doesn't imply any specific condition or treatment. Everyone just throws their hands up and says "Oh colic, hang in there- it will pass". I am sorry but just accepting that it's a mystery that she'll out grow isn't okay with me. Her fussing is due...

Immediately following birth Everly and I laid skin to skin for about 20 min. The skin to skin contact is said to improve breastfeeding outcome and facilitate bonding between mother and child. While we waited for the umbilical cord to stop pulsating and the placenta to deliver Everly and I just laid there in all our messy glory enjoying each other's company.
Once the umbilical cord stopped pulsating N cut it and she began to nurse right away. Nursing within the first 30 min or so following birth is highly recommended by lactation consultants when it is possible so we held off on taking her weight and length measurements so I could nurse awhile.
When the time came to inspect the damages Everly and I went our separate ways, she got her...

Everly has a "witching hour" It is from about midnight to 3am, interestingly enough that was the time of transition and trauma in her life. She was born at 1:16am remember?
Anyway, there have only been like 3 nights over the course of the week where she's been a handful during her witching hour...

The last week has been a whirlwind! Everly Charlotte was born on June 23rd 2009 at 1:16am. She weighed 8lbs 12oz and was 21 inches long, her head measured 34 1/2 cm. She was way bigger than we expected her to be but as you'll see by the photos she is darn good and healthy! She was even born with hair which makes me so happy (I was born bald), her hair is red too.
Her Apgar scores were 9 at 1 min & 10 at 5 min, which is great. She was feeding like a champ right after birth too, they placed her on my chest right after she was out and she found the nipple no problem. I was even feeding her as they wheeled me through the hospital...

We'll be doing an hour long live broadcast/ chat right here in this post to share Everly with everyone in real time (it can also be accessed here). The broadcast will start June 27th 2009 at 3pm CDST, Evansville, IN time. That is 1pm Arizona time.
The broadcast will appear below once the live show starts (old recorded videos will play both before and after the actual broadcast). You'll be able to see us via the video box and using the chat box just below it you can chat with us and ask questions, etc.
We hope this is a fun and interactive way for us to share Everly's Homecoming with everyone who is following it!
Also, did you see our funny test video? I was changing her diaper right before hand and...

On Sunday we met a lady to pick up some free infant girl clothes that were offered up on freecycle. We have a love/ hate relationship with freecycle. Mostly because so many people are flakes about coming and picking up the stuff they claim they want.
Anyway, since the budget has been so tight we have not been reluctant to ask for things we need when someone posts an offer on freecycle. We've managed to get some pretty helpful things like pet food and baby stuff which has helped us big time. This last freecycler takes the cake though!
We expected a box or a sack of clothing items when we came to claim the baby girl stuff. She said she had a range of sizes and some various other odds and...

Last night we were jostled from sleep by the weather radio. *For all my west coast readers who don't already know* It is designed to go off whenever a watch or warning is in effect for our area, you know to make sure you are aware of the possible danger even when you aren't able to hear area sirens or whatever. I guess it is possible to sleep through the sirens, how I am not sure...